Nuggets coach Karl: “It’s going to be a fourth-quarter game”

Hello from Milwaukee or, as Alice Cooper explains in the video above, “Me-lee-waa-kay.”

The Nuggets are here for their lone game this season against the Bucks, who are undefeated at home … and winless on the road (4-8).

We’re searching for our mental toughness and I think digging holes has been the reason we lost some games,” Nuggets coach George Karl said at today’s shootaround (Denver is 2-3 on the road). “The readiness of our intensity has been down. Milwaukee, people forget, they led the game most of the game we beat them.”

“It’s going to be a fourth-quarter game – you’re not going to come in here and take this game without a fight.”

This is Karl’s lone trip this season to Milwaukee, one of his favorite U.S. cities. He coached the Bucks from 1998-2003, advancing to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final in 2001 (losing to Allen Iverson and the 76ers). His overall record here was 205-173.

“It’s a good town – it’s not a good weather town, but it’s a good town,” Karl said. “

“I think Milwaukee is just a fun town to be a part of,” Karl said. “It’s not a town that people probably try to move to, but once they move here, a lot of people say. The people are great and in the summertime, it’s a great place to be around. The lakefront has the Polish Festival, Italian Festival, Chinese Festival, a festival almost every week, after Summerfest, which is one of the biggest music festivals in the world. I’d go a couple times a summer. And they have an arts-and-crafts show that is big-time.”

It was a fourth quarter game only because the team was so darn tired that they couldn’t move by then. That is why I am so adamit about playing the rookies in spots to relieve pressure off the first and second string. This is good for them, good for the starters and good for the seasons long toll.

Chris Dempsey arrived at The Denver Post in Dec. 2003 after seven years at the Boulder Daily Camera, where he primarily covered the University of Colorado football and men's basketball teams. A University of Colorado-Boulder alumnus, Dempsey covers the Nuggets and also chips in on college sports.